Sunrise
by Ilana88
Summary: She was scared. Still, after all the efforts he took over the last weeks to prove to her, that he could be honest, that she could trust him. She was his partner and unless to protect her life, he would never lie to her again. / an idea for a short scene I would like to see in one of the remaining episodes of season 6. Slight spoiler for 6x16 and onwards.
1. Chapter 1

„We'll catch up with you," Jane turned around and glanced at Lisbon, who was still talking with one of the local police officers. They just solved the case and were now heading back to their temporary headquarter. „There's something I...there's something we have to do first."

Fischer seemed surprised, but she didn't ask him what he was talking about.

„Ok. But don't take too long, our flight leaves in a few hours."

Jane watched her as she stepped into the black SUV and drove away. The sound of the engine did not escape Lisbon and she joined him.

"Shall we?", he opened the door of their rental care for her. She didn't complain that he was driving, a clear sign that it had been a long week, and an even longer night. It was still dark, but slowly a band of light was appearing at the horizon. A new day. The best time for a new beginning.

"You are surprisingly quiet."

Lisbon's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He shrugged. "I'm just enjoying this beautiful morning." There were hardly any cars on the street and everything seemed quiet and peaceful.

"Jane!" Lisbon turned around and looked at the road sign they just passed. "That was our exit. I knew it. I never should have let you drive."

Jane didn't even try to hide his grin. "Don't worry, Lisbon. You'll be at the HQ early enough, but there something we have to ado first."

She eyed him suspiciously. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm tired Jane, I don't have the energy for your games."

Jane shook his head. "No more games. I promised you that, have you already forgotten it?"

Lisbon sighed, but she didn't ask any further questions. At least not for the moment. Soon there would be no need for questions anyway. Jane felt slightly nervous as he saw their destination.

He steered the car on a small path leading away from the road. The ocean to their right was slowly turning red, as the sun rose above the horizon. He stopped the car and killed the engine.

"Why are we stopping?"

He didn't dare to look at Lisbon as he answered her. "I want to see the sunrise."

Her whole body got tense and she inhaled sharply. Jane opened his seatbelt and got out of the car. Lisbon hadn't moved an inch, but she flinched as he walked around the car and opened her door.

"Are you coming?"

She looked at him and what he saw took his breath away. She was scared. Still, after all the efforts he took over the last weeks to prove to her, that he could be honest, that she could trust him. She was his partner and unless to protect her life, he would never lie to her again. He gave her that promise on the day she decided against going to DC with Pike. One part of him still hoped, that his words were one of the reasons for her decision to stay.

"Jane." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. It was just one word, his name, but he could hear the fear as easily as he saw it in her eyes. But there was more, mingled with the fear was hope and it was exactly this hope that helped him to find the courage for his next words.

"You staying in the car won't stop me from saying what I came here for, I hope you are aware of that."

Lisbon made a sound that was half laugh and half sob, but she opened her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

"Give me at least the keys." It was probably a weak attempt to take the seriousness out of the moment, but her own voice betrayed her. It was the wrong topic, the memory still too painful, even after more than two years. For both of them.

Jane just looked at her, without saying a word. He got the keys out of his pocket and offered them to her.

She seemed shocked to equal parts because of her own words and his reaction.

"I'm sorry" she took a small step back, "I didn't mean to..."

Jane closed his fist around the keys.

"Don't do that Lisbon." He shook his head and stepped closer again.

"Don't ever apologize again for something like that. I'm the one that should make amends." He didn't break their eye contact, not even for a second, neither did she.

He planned this moment for weeks. Since the day she decided to stay. Stay in Austin, stay with him. He always knew that she would need time, that he would need to do this slowly, showing her every day that she could count on him, that he would never run again. Finally the day was here. He thought about it so often, planned it to the smallest detail, prepared each word he wanted to say. But now that he was standing here with her, his mind went blank. Both sky and sea turned red behind him and in front of him, reflected in the windows of their car, making the green of her eyes so intense that his thoroughly thought through plan fell together like a card house. Maybe this was good, he didn't need a plan, she rarely liked his elaborate plans in the past anyway.

"I love you, Teresa."

Simple, direct, honest. Was this not exactly what she wanted from him? What she'd held against him all this weeks ago, that she never knew when he was sincere, whether there were some hidden agenda behind his words. He was long past that and he saw in her eyes, that she knew it. There was nothing that could be misunderstood in those four words and he would never take them back, not this time.

"Jane." Tears shimmered in her eyes as she took a step towards him, closing the gap between them. Her hands closed around his arms and he didn't even realise that he had let go of the keys, before they hit the ground, startling both of them.

Lisbon let go of him in an instant and retreated back, or at least she tried. His arms were around her before he even realised it consciously, pulling her as close as he could.

"I love you", he whispered close to her ear, suddenly feeling the need to make sure she really understood. She hugged him in return, burying her face in the side of his neck.

"I love you too." He could barely hear her voice, but he felt her hot breath on his skin and the wetness of her tears. He closed his eyes ignoring the tears on his own cheeks, simply holding her in a fierce embrace until she stopped trembling in his arms and both their tears had dried.

Lisbon was the first to pull back. She looked at him, her voice still a little shaky, but she was smiling. "Tell me again, Jane. Why did it take us so long?"

He just shrugged and grinned at her. She didn't leave him much time for an answer anyway, but instead leaned forward and kissed him. It began slowly, a mere touch at first, but then she parted her lips and his mind went blank.

The ringing of her phone brought them back. His breath came in short gasps and he registered surprised, that he somehow managed to pin her against the door of the car.

Lisbon pushed him back a little until she could reach for her phone, similarly out of breath. She cleared her throat and took the call.

"Lisbon."

Her left hand was still on his chest and Jane pulled her closer again, ignoring her half-hearted attempt to keep him at a distance.

"I see", she answered, listening to whoever dared to interrupt them. Jane couldn't resist the temptation and placed a kiss on her neck, making her gasp audibly. She hit him slightly on the chest, but it had been worth it. Jane couldn't hide his grin.

"We're on the way."

She lowered the phone and glared at him. "That was Fischer. We have to go."

A sigh escaped him. "Are you sure?"

He placed another kiss on her neck, eliciting the same response as before, except that no slap was following.

"Jane, I'm serious. They're all waiting" Her voice betrayed her own words and her hands found a way back into his hair on their own. He prevented any further protest by kissing her again.

He was in the end the one who pulled back, had to pull back if they wanted to leave this beach any time soon.

None of them said a word for a while. Lisbon picked up the keys from the ground and sat behind the wheel. She tried to straighten her hair. Jane grinned, it seemed like a hopeless undertaking. Whatever she did, she wouldn't be able to hide her flushed cheeks.

"I thought I'm driving?", he asked, still standing outside.

"Get in the car Jane!"

Some things would never change, he thought as he took his seat beside her, still smiling. Not that he was complaining.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Against my original plan, I decided to add a second chapter to this little one-shot.

* * *

It was just a short drive to the temporary headquarters and they mostly spent in in silence. Lisbon every now and then threw a glance at Jane, as if to convince herself that he was still there. Her rather unreasonable behaviour, considering that she was driving with 80 miles per hour, did not escape Jane.

"I'm not going to disappear just because you're not looking at me for longer than a minute."

She knew that he probably meant it as joke, but parts of her didn't take it as such. She immediately decided not to take her eyes of the road, not even for a second, until they reached their destination.

The truth was, she was still a little scared that he would disappear. Of course not during a drive, but at some point, maybe in a week, or a month, or in a year…or what about in five years, when he would have fulfilled his deed for the FBI. He always said that he hated working crimes; would he still stick around? Would she be enough to keep him at one place? He bought an airstream that did not exactly speak for the plan to stay in once city.

Lisbon was annoyed with herself. Just five minutes ago she hardly could keep her hands off him and now suddenly her brain had nothing better to do, than to flood her with doubts. They hadn't even slept with each other, and she was worrying about what might happen in five years. What the hell was wrong with her?

The answer to that chose this precise moment to yawn. Being apart from him for two years hadn't been enough to get him out of her heart or head, neither had a relationship with another man, or a job offer in DC. He was too important to her.

And after years of waiting for a sign from him it finally had happened.

Jane told her that he loved her; but was that enough? What if she messed this up or what if he messed it up? What if this didn't work; she couldn't stand loosing his friendship, loosing him.

Lisbon felt exhausted. She shouldn't be driving a car, and even less trying to make sense out of Patrick Jane. She hadn't slept more than five hours during the last two days and from one moment to the next she felt every single minute of sleep she was lacking.

He told her that he loved her, was that not all she ever wanted? She couldn't think clearly after his confession, it was as if something in her spilled over, as if all the emotions she'd been holding back for a decade suddenly broke free. She'd cried…she couldn't even remember when she'd done that for the last time. Or actually she could…it happened on the day his first letter from South America arrived.

And then they'd kissed, or more precisely, she'd kissed him. She still could feel his lips on hers, his hands on her waist, the softness of his golden locks under her fingers, his body pressed against hers… Lisbon focused back on the presence. The memory alone was enough to increase her heart rate. Kissing him definitely hadn't helped her to think clearly.

"Are you ok?"

She'd almost forgotten that he was still sitting beside her.

"I'm fine." She could hear it herself; her voice was just slightly higher pitched than usual.

"Damn it!", she murmured. Jane chuckled and to her surprise a smile crept on her face too.

She parked the car directly beside it's identical twin, which Fischer and Cho'd used over the last days.

The moment she opened her door, Jane took her wrist and hold her back.

"Lisbon…", she turned around and looked at him.

"It will be fine." He reassured her and then placed a quick kiss on her lips.

"Jane!", she almost jumped out of the car.

"Are you out of your mind, what if someone saw you."

He chuckled again and stepped out of the car himself. "Don't worry, I checked, no one is around. Besides…" he glanced at her, "at some point we'll have to tell them about us."

Lisbon slammed the car door shut with more force than she intended.

"And what exactly are we telling them? We haven't even talked about what "we" are."

He smiled at her. "Only because there's no need, Lisbon. We both know it."

"There you are", Lisbon whirled around. Fischer stood in the entrance to the building. "We've already packed up. You better get your stuff, we have to head to the airport if we want to catch our flight."

Lisbon just nodded and fled into the building past Fischer.

"Is everything ok with Lisbon?", she heard the other agent ask Jane.

"She's fine, just tired like all of us."

* * *

It didn't take Lisbon long to gather her things. They didn't even check in a hotel the night before, so everything was right here. She brought her bag into the car and then went back in to see after Jane. Fischer and Cho just left and that's what she and Jane should do to, if they wanted to get back to Austin on that day.

"Jane?", she couldn't see him anywhere…now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen him in quite a while.

"Hi." His voice startled her and she turned around. "I got you a coffee." He handed her a steaming paper cup, which explained where he'd been.

"Thanks."

She took a sip and avoided looking at him. Their conversation from before was far from being over yet, but Lisbon wasn't sure whether she had the energy to talk to him now.

"We should go", she said, pointing to the door. Jane seemed to have other ideas. He took the coffee cup out of her hands and put in on a nearby table, ignoring the sound of protest, escaping her lips.

"You can't buy me coffee and then take it away!" – "You'll get it back when we're leaving."

Lisbon crossed her arms. "We're leaving now!"

With a shake of his head, Jane stepped between her and the door.

"Not yet. We need to talk first." He looked at her with a mixture of worry and seriousness. "You're freaking out Lisbon and I can't have that happening." – "I'm not freaking out!" Lisbon flinched because of her own voice; that had been louder than she'd intended. Jane just looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Really? So you haven't spent the last half hour coming up with all the reasons why this…why "we" are a bad idea?" – "No…", Lisbon run her hands over her face, "or ...maybe, I don't know." She looked at him. "How does it come that you're so calm?"

Jane smiled at her, an open and honest smile.

"Lisbon", he took her hand, "there's no reason for me not to be calm. I know this will work."

She tightened the grip around his hand. "How can you say that?"

He was still smiling. "I simply know it. Every single happy memory I have from the last 12 years is somehow connected to you, how can it not work?" He brought her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on it.

"Whatever is going to happen we've been through worse and still managed to stay friends; still managed to love each other. Considering what I did to you…you should hate me…"

Lisbon wanted to protest but he placed a finger on her lips, "…but you don't, that's exactly the point. It will be fine, Teresa. Trust me."

A wave of affection washed over her and she leaned against his chest, pulling him close.

"I'm sorry that I freaked out", she whispered. She felt his laugh more than she heard it.

"That's ok. You wouldn't be my Lisbon, if you hadn't."

She pulled back just a little, so that she could look at him.

"Your Lisbon?" He grinned at her and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Yes, you're mine." A stray lock of her hair had fallen into her face and he tenderly tucked it back behind her ear. "The same way I'm yours."

Lisbon kissed him and then rested her head on his shoulder.

"Are you feeling better now?", he asked, his hands slowly drawing circles on her back.

"Yes", Lisbon murmured, eyes closed. And it was the truth. She felt calm again. Jane was right. They loved each other, that was all that was important for now. Her eyes fluttered open as Jane pressed a slight kiss to her forehead.

"I'm afraid we have to leave now…otherwise not only your coffee will get cold, but we might actually miss our flight."

He was right and even if Lisbon hated it to let go of him, she had no choice. They both hurried to the car. The coffee in her hand was the reason why she ended up on the passenger side.

"So I assume you're not going to spend the three hours flight with finding reason why this isn't going to work?", he asked her with a grin as they left the parking area. Lisbon glared at him: "Don't push it too far. But no…", she took a sip of her coffee to hide her own smile, "I think I'll spend the three hours imagining what I'm going to do with you once we're off the airplane, preferably somewhere alone."

Jane flinched and the car swerved just slightly, before he focused back on the road. He cleared his throat. "I have to say, I like that idea a lot more."


End file.
